1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an inflatable packaging cushion. More particularly, it relates to an inflatable packaging cushion which protects a thin article during shipping.
2. The Prior Art
Protective packaging material for articles of different sizes and shapes is commonly used to cushion articles during shipping. There are numerous types and forms of packaging material for this purpose including waste paper, embossed paper, air cellular bubble wrap materials and loose fill materials, known as peanuts. These forms of cushioning material, however, are not well suited for mailing single thin articles such as computer disks, hard drives and the like.
In seeking better protective packaging materials for articles of different size and shape including thin articles, various forms of air inflated cushions have been suggested. One example of such a cushion is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,798,123 to Pharo which discloses an inflatable bag having a pouch for retaining an article and adapted to be rolled-up to assume a spiralled configuration for cushioning the article. The Pharo bag is inflated after the article is placed in the pouch, the air bag rolled around the package, and placed in a shipping container. Such cushions are unnecessarily bulky.
Another example of inflatable packaging is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,447,235 to Pharo which discloses an inflatable packaging which is formed of a pair of overlying inner panels defining a pocket and adapted to retain an article in the pocket and an inflating portion for communicating through the overlying inner panels. An outer panel overlays each of the inner panels to form an inflatable chamber therebetween. The overlying edge portions of the inner and outer panels are seamed together except at one edge to expose the pocket. The inflatable chambers are maintained in a sealed position upon inflation by inflation pressure from the inflatable chambers acting upon the inflation portion.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,155,453 to Ono there is described an inflatable packaging system which forms a sleeve for holding articles. After inflation, the inflatable sleeve on the open end of the compartment may be folded to completely seal the compartment between the double walls and having a fastener, such as a zipper or a twist-clasp, to seal the sleeve.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,465,188 to Soroka, et al. discloses an inflatable packaging sleeve in which the article to be protected is simply shipped in a compartment formed between inflatable chambers. The Soroka, et al. packaging structure acts like an envelope and does not have a member folding over the top to provide protection.
The disadvantages of the prior art packaging discussed above are overcome by use of the inflatable packaging cushion of the present invention as hereafter described.